Swank finishes Rice career at NCAA meet

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by Alex Chapman

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And when it comes to moving quickly, there are few better in the country. Swank represented Rice in the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

She finished 167th in the strong field of 183, finishing 2:39 behind victor Kathy Butler of the University of Wisconsin.

In the team competition, Providence College edged the University of Colorado, Villanova University, Brigham Young University and the University of Oregon to take the 1995 title.

Talking about her run, Swank said, "It was just me. When I felt the strong wind, I just tensed up. I was in good shape for the first mile, but I just fell back."

While her finish was further back than she had hoped, it still marked the conclusion to an excellent senior year that saw her regularly leading the way for Rice and an excellent cross country career.

Teammate Alex Gajewski said, "She's an awesome runner. We'll miss her."

In high school, Swank was considered one of the best runners in the country, ranked as high as 13th while winning the prestigious Keebler International Senior Invitational.

Her strong running continued in college as she was an important contributor to the Owls' strong performances in each of her years at Rice.

In her sophomore season, she traveled with the women's cross country team to nationals, leading them with a 69th-place finish.

While the team failed to make it to nationals her junior or senior year, Swank continued to improve, assuming a leadership role on the team.

She runs for Rice throughout the school year, also running long distances in the indoor and outdoor track seasons.

Last year, she also made it to the national championships in outdoor track, running the 3,000 meters.

We haven't seen the last of Stacy Swank.

"My goal is to make All-American in both indoor and outdoor track," she said.

And even beyond that, she may remain in Houston. "I'd like to attend the UT-Houston Medical School."

But if you think you'll see her around, you may be wrong. All you'll see is a blur.

This item appeared in the Sports section of the December 1, 1995 issue.

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